Good Reasons To Attend Every Service

Many people are making resolutions for the coming new year. One thing every New Testament Christian should resolve to do is attend every service if at all possible. There are times we can’t go such as being too ill or having some emergency situation arise. However, we should determine to be at every service if we are physically able. The following article was written by Mike Riley:

An elderly lady, dreadfully crippled with arthritis, used to hobble painfully to church services on two crutches. It was an agonizing ordeal for her. Someone in the congregation asked her how she managed to be at every service. Her answer was, “My heart gets there first and my legs just follow after.” Can it be that we don’t have an attendance problem so much as we have a “heart” problem? Note what our Lord said in Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Let us look at some reasons why we as Christians should attend every service:

1) In order to have the Scriptures opened to us (Luke 24:45).

2) In order to receive the comfort and encouragement which is to be found in Christian fellowship (Hebrews 10:24).

3) In order to feed and exercise our faith (Romans 10:17).

4) To maintain our spiritual fervor (Matthew 24:12). A coal of fire alone on the hearth will die, so we, by ourselves, grow cold and lifeless.

5) To set a good example for others to follow (Matthew 5:13-16).

6) To “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

7) To prevent backsliding (1 Corinthians 11:20-30). Absenteeism is invariably one of the first warning signs of apostasy.

8) In order to obey God’s command not to forsake the assembling of His saints (Hebrews 10:25).

9) In order to cast our vote for righteousness and godliness (Matthew 12:30).

We need to develop the same willing attitude in attending the worship services of the Lord’s church as the elderly lady in our introduction who was crippled with arthritis.

Our attitude should be one of:

1) A willingness to set spiritual priorities in seeking the Lord’s kingdom (church) “first” (Matthew 6:33).

2) A desire to “deny self” and “follow Christ” (Matthew 16:24).

3) A desire to display a “heart”” of gratitude and gladness for the blessed privilege of being able to “go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1).